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A pair of youngsters share a private, gentle instant at the neighborhood high school’s open-air pool after hours. While they drift as one, suspended under the stars in the stillness of the evening, the sequence portrays the fleeting, heady thrill of adolescent love, completely engrossed in the present, consequences overlooked.

About 30 minutes into The Chainsaw Man Film: Reze Arc, it became clear such moments are the core of the film. Denji and Reze’s love story became the focus, and all the background details and backstories I had gleaned from the series’ first season proved to be largely unnecessary. Despite being a official installment within the series, Reze Arc provides a more accessible entry point for first-time viewers — regardless of they haven’t seen its prior content. This method brings advantages, but it simultaneously limits a portion of the urgency of the movie’s narrative.

Developed by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man chronicles Denji, a indebted Devil Hunter in a universe where Devils embody particular dangers (ranging from concepts like getting older and obscurity to specific horrors like cockroaches or historical conflicts). When he’s deceived and killed by the yakuza, Denji forms a contract with his faithful companion, Pochita, and returns from the deceased as a part-human chainsaw wielder with the power to permanently erase Devils and the terrors they signify from reality.

Thrust into a violent struggle between demons and hunters, the hero meets Reze — a charming coffee server hiding a lethal mystery — igniting a tragic confrontation between the pair where love and existence collide. The movie continues right after season 1, exploring Denji’s connection with his love interest as he grapples with his feelings for her and his loyalty to his controlling boss, Makima, forcing him to choose between passion, faithfulness, and survival.

A Self-Contained Romantic Tale Within a Broader World

Reze Arc is inherently a romance-to-rivalry story, with our imperfect main character the hero falling for Reze right away upon meeting. He is a isolated boy looking for affection, which makes his heart vulnerable and easily swayed on a first-come, first-served. As a result, in spite of all of Chainsaw Man’s intricate mythology and its large cast of characters, Reze Arc is very self-contained. Filmmaker Tatsuya Yoshihara understands this and ensures the romantic arc is at the center, rather than bogging it down with unnecessary summaries for the uninitiated, especially when such details really matters to the overall plot.

Despite Denji’s imperfections, it’s hard not to feel for him. He’s after all a adolescent, stumbling his way through a world that’s warped his understanding of right and wrong. His desperate craving for affection portrays him like a infatuated dog, although he’s prone to barking, biting, and causing chaos along the way. His love interest is a perfect match for Denji, an effective femme fatale who targets her mark in our hero. You want to see the main character win the ire of his affection, despite she is obviously concealing something from him. So when her true nature is revealed, you still can’t help but hope they’ll in some way succeed, even though internally, it is known a happy ending is not truly in the plan. As such, the stakes fail to seem as high as they ought to be since their relationship is fated. It doesn’t help that the movie serves as a direct sequel to Season 1, allowing minimal space for a romance like this amid the more grim events that fans know are coming soon.

Stunning Animation and Artistic Craftsmanship

This movie’s graphics seamlessly blend traditional animation with 3D environments, providing impressive eye candy even before the action kicks in. Including vehicles to tiny desk fans, 3D models add depth and texture to every shot, making the 2D characters stand out beautifully. Unlike Demon Slayer, which often highlights its digital elements and shifting backgrounds, Reze Arc uses them less frequently, most noticeably during its action-packed climax, where those models, though not unappealing, become easier to identify. Such fluid, dynamic backgrounds make the film’s fights both spectacular to watch and surprisingly easy to follow. Nonetheless, the method shines brightest when it’s invisible, enhancing the vibrancy and movement of the 2D animation.

Final Impressions and Broader Considerations

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc serves as a solid starting place, likely leaving new fans satisfied, but it also has a drawback. Presenting a self-contained story restricts the stakes of what should feel like a expansive anime epic. It’s an illustration of why continuing a successful television series with a movie isn’t the optimal approach if it undermines the series’ overall storytelling potential.

While Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle succeeded by tying up multiple installments of animated series with an epic movie, and JuJutsu Kaisen 0 sidestepped the problem completely by acting as a prequel to its well-known series, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc advances boldly, perhaps a slightly recklessly. But this does not prevent the film from proving to be a great experience, a terrific introduction, and a memorable love story.